The Jack Rabbit Chess Report: Fischer dies; Wijk aan Zee lives on

News for the week ending January 20

Bobby Fischer, 1943-2008


Photo: ChessBase.com

Bobby Fischer, 64, the brilliant chess player and eccentric individual, died in Iceland Thursday night at the age of 64 of an illness most sources say was kidney disease.

Fischer was first noted in international chess circles in 1956 when, at the age of 13, he defeated grandmaster Donald Byrne in a game played during a tournament at the Manhattan Chess Club in New York City. Fischer, playing Black, calmly sacrificed his Queen on the seventeenth move which led to a long-winded minor-piece checkmate 24 moves later. The US magazine Chess Review published the game and dubbed it the "game of the century."

The following year, Fischer won the US national championship and the year after that won the title international grandmaster, being the younger grandmaster ever up to that time at the age of 15. At the age of 16 in 1959 Fischer becoming the youngest player to play in the world championship candidates tournament. In 1963, at the age of 19, Fischer underscored his superiority in American chess by winning the national championship with a perfect score in an 11-round tournament.

Fischer's star in the international arena, already high, began souring to the farthest reaches of the heavens in 1966. That summer, he began the Second Piatagorsky Tournament in Santa Monica poorly with only 3½ points out of nine rounds at the half-way point in the event. In the second half, Fischer surged to score 6½ points in the last nine rounds to claim second place behind Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky, who earlier that year had lost a match for the world title. Spassky would win the title from then-champion Tigran Petrosian in 1969, setting the stage for Fischer's greatest acomplishment.

In 1970, Fischer began his challenge for the world title by winning the Interzonal Tournament in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, with 18½ points out of a possible 23, 3½ points ahead of his nearest rivals: Bent Larsen (Denmark), Efim Geller (Soviet Union) and Dr. Robert Hübner (West Germany). In 1971, with the old candidates' tournament replaced by a series of matches, Fischer won the quarter final match from the Soviet Union's Mark Taimonov by a score of 6-0 and then amazed the world by repeating the whitewashing with another perfect score in six games against Larsen. Reaching back to Palma de Mallorca and going to the beginning of the final candidates' match against the former champion, Petrosian, Fischer won 20 games in row against some of the strongest grandmasters in the world. Fischer won his match against Petrosian in Buenos Aires by a score of 7½-2½, winning the last four games in a row from Petrosian, who was one of the most difficult players ever from whom to win a game.

In the summer of 1972, Fischer played a match for the world title against Spassky in Reykjavik and won by a score of 12½-8½. However, there was to be no prolonged Age of Fischer in chess. In 1975, Fischer forfeited his title to Anatoly Karpov in a dispute with FIDE, the world chess federation, about the rules of the match. In all, Fischer would go 20 years without playing an official FIDE-sanctioned game between his defeat of Spassky in 1972 and a rematch between the two in 1992, played in Yugoslavia. Fischer won the match, which produced some instructive games. Unfortunately, it was also the beginnings of his legal problems with the US government, which indicted Fischer for violating sanctions against Yugoslavia then in place.

Fischer never returned to organized chess. The last tragic years of his live were spent in hiding, coming out on occasions to spew vile hatred of his ethnic forefathers and his native country which led many to conclude that Fischer was mentally ill. When Fischer was cornered in Japan in 2004 and faced extradition to the United States, his friends and fans in Iceland stepped in and persuaded the Icelandic parliament to vote citizenship for Fisher and arranged for him to take refuge there.

When his death was announced Friday, all the players and spectators in Wijk aan Zee for the major grandmaster tournament stood for a one-minute silent tribute.

See also Bobby Fischer is 64, Democratic Underground, dated March 11, 2007.

Magnus Carlson leads in Wijk aan Zee Group A



Magnus Carlson, the seventeen-year-old chess prodigy from Norway, leads Group A in the Corus Chess Tournament in the Dutch resort of Wijk aan Zee after eight rounds with 5½ points. Magnus is a half point ahead of Levon Aronian of Amenia and the former world champion, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. Current world champion Vishy Anand of India and Timour Radjabov of Azerbaijan follow with 4½ points each.

In Group B, Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia has taken the lead from French grandmaster Etienne Bacrot by defeating Dutch master Wouter Spoelman today while Bacrot drew his game with the world's number two woman player, Koneru Humpy of India. Movesian has 6 points. The drama in Group B today was provided when Bulgarian Ivan Cheparinov refused to shake hands with his opponent, British GM and former world title challenger Nigel Short. The chief arbiter at first ruled that Cheparinov was in forfeit of the game under FIDE rules, but this was reversed by the appeals committee later in the day. The Short-Cheparinov game will be play tomorrow (Monday), which was scheduled to be a rest day.

In Group C, 15-year-old grandmaster and Italian national champion Fabiano Caruana, who holds dual citizenship in the United States, defeated German international master Arik Braun in a battle of the leaders today to take sole possession of first place. Braun drops into a tie for third while grandmaster Dimitri Reinderman of Holland moves into second, a half point behind Caruana.

The 13-round Corus Chess Tournament concludes in Wijk aan Zee next Sunday.

Arik Braun
Photo: ChessBase.de (Germany)


Arik Braun - Mark van der Werf
Corus Chess Tournament, Group C, Round 4
Wijk aan Zee, 15 January 2008

Semi-Slav Queen's Gambit: Marshall Opening

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 Na6 9.Bd6

• If 9.Ba5 f6 then:
• If 10.Qd8+ Kf7 11.0-0-0 e5 12.Bd3 Qf4+ then:
• 13.Bd2 Qg4 14.Bc2 Qd7 15.Qa5 Qc7 16.Qc3 Ne7 17.f4 e4 with an edge in space for White (Volkov-Goloshchapov, Euro Chess Ch, Reythymnon, 2003).
• If 13.Kb1 Nc5 14.Ne2 then:
• 14...Qg4 15.h3 Qe6 16.Ng3 Qe7 17.Be4 Qxd8 18.Rxd8 Ne6 19.Rd2 Ne7 gives White more space, but Black's solid position will be a tough nut to crack (Yermolinsky-Kaidanov, US Ch, Stillwater, 2007).
• If 14...Qxf2 15.Rhf1 Qxg2 16.Qc7+ Ne7 17.Rg1 Qxg1 18.Rxg1 then:
• If 18...Ne6? 19.Qd6 b6 20.Bb4 c5 21.Be4 with a significant edge for White (Mamedyarov-Schneider, World Jr Ch, Nakhchivan, 2003)
• 18...Nxd3! 19.Rxg7+ Kxg7 20.Qxe7+ Kg6 21.Bd8 Rxd8 22.Qxd8 with equality.
• 10.Nf3 b6 11.Bc3 Ne7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Re1 Qf4is equal (Cvitvan-Kharlov, Euro Ind Ch, Warsaw, 2005)

9...Qxg2 10.Qd2 Nf6 11.Bf3 Qg6 12.0-0-0

• If 12.Ne2 e5 13.0-0-0 Bg4 14.Rhg1 0-0-0 15.Qe3 h5 16.h3 Rxd6 17.Rxd6 Nb4 18.Qb3 Qh6+ 19.Kd1 Bxf3 20.Qxf3 Qh7 21.Nc3 then:
  • Black can continue 21...Qc2+ 22.Ke1 with equality (van Wely-Panasovic, Eur Ind Ch, Dresaden 2007).
  • Better is 21...Rd8 22.Rxd8+ Kxd8 when Black has a small spatial edge.

12...e5?! 13.Bxe5 0-0 14.Ne2 Qf5 15.Qe3!

• 15.Bd6 Rd8 16.Qc3 Ne8 17.Rhg1 Be6 18.b3 Qf6 19.Be5 Rxd1+ 20.Rxd1 Qg5+ 21.Kb2 Nc5 22.Bd4 Qe7is equal (Leitao-Shulman, World Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk, 2007)

15...Nb4 16.Nd4 Nxa2+ 17.Kd2 Rd8 18.Ke2 Qxe5?

• If 18...Rxd4 19.Rxd4 Be6 20.Rg1 then:
• In a game played a month earlier, Black played 20...Nb4? and after 21.Be4 Nxe4 22.Rxg7+ White won easily (Kuljasevic-Robson, Univ of Texas at Dallas Invit, Richardson, 2007).
• Better is 20...Re8! 21.Kd2 Nb4 22.Qg5 Qc2+ 23.Ke1 Qb1+ 24.Bd1 Qg6 when the game is is level.

BLACK: Mark van der Werf
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WHITE: Arik Braun
Position after 18...Qf5xe5

19.Qxe5!!

• A spectacular Queen sacrifice wins in short order. Any other move loses.

19...Re8 20.Qxe8+ Nxe8 21.Nxc6!!

• This second sacrifice is much better than 21.Rd2 Nb4 22.Ra1 Kf8 when Black has chances ot hold on to a half-point.

21...bxc6 22.Rd8! 1-0

• 22.Bxc6? throws away much of White's advantage after 22...Rb8 23.Rd2 Nb4 24.Bxe8 Bg4+ 25.Ke3 Rxe8+ 26.Kf4 Be6 27.b3 f6.
• White splits Black's defense in half. If now 22...Bb7 23.Rxa8 Bxa8 24.Ra1 Nb4 25.Rxa7 then White wins another piece.
• Mh. van der Werf resigns.

Fischer laid to rest in private ceremony

According to his wishes, former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was laid to rest today in a country graveyard near Selfoss, Iceland, about an hour's drive from Reykjavik.

The ceremony was small and private, with no media present.


Cheparinov shakes hands, Short still wins

The eighth round game between British grandmaster Nigel Short and grandmaster Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaia was replayed today in Wijk aan Zee, Holland in the B Group of the Corus Chess Tournament.

Short defeated Cheparinov in 72 moves.

Short was awarded the game by forfeit yesterday when Cheparinov refused to shake hands before the game. The decision was overturned later in the day by the appeals committee, which ruled that the chief arbiter of the tournament erred by simply forfeiting the game to Short without warning Cheparinov of the consequences of his behavior.

In 1993, Short played and lost a title match to then-world champion Garry Kasparov.

Cheparinov served as the second to Bulgarian grandmaster and former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov in his title defenses.